Bus ride to Huddersfield

The bus that goes past our house runs from Hebden Bridge to Huddersfield and we decided to take the ride to see what it is like. The trip itself went through scenery and villages, much like our car journey, but nicer for me as I didn’t have to drive. It takes about 45 minutes. Unfortunately the emergency exit door had been tampered with and we had beeping for the whole journey. We tried to be philosophical about it and no one blamed the poor driver who had no way of turning it off.

The day was sunny and we started out by finding our way to the Information Centre located in the library. This wasn’t easy and signage was ambiguous, but we made it. We walked down to a town central square with some very impressive buildings, including a railway station. We had lunch at a pub that backed onto the station. I could see trains whilst we had our lunch.

Afterwards Stephen and Eversley went through the long process of sorting out a discount rail card for her, whilst I wandered around taking photos. There was a tourist information desk at the station so we needn’t have worried about the library. Afterwards we each did our own thing before meeting up back at the bus station. By the. It was overcast with rain developing. On the way home it was raining constantly and once again I was glad to be a passenger.

I took some photos whilst we waited for the bus. We weren’t sure where to stand as the bus stop itself was obscured by bushes. However, it all worked out.

Political Rant

We had a discussion with a man sitting next to us. We asked about Brexit and he said that people voted for it because of Asian and African migration, whilst acknowledging that this has nothing to do with being in the European Union. The first thing we had noticed was the large student population in the city which is very diverse, but he was more referencing the adults. We can’t help thinking that the English can only blame their ancestors who colonised Asian and African countries, taking the wealth home. At first migrants from former colonies were welcomed. Now people feel that they take jobs and opportunities away from locals. Taking a longer view, perhaps migrants from African and Asia are owed a good living in England.

It’s a bit like some people in the USA who feel threatened by the non white people in their midst. Thanks to the greed of slave traders and slave owners people were brought to the US against their will and white settlers made their fortunes on their backs. Again, blame lies with their own ancestors for the diversity. All that is left to do is to acknowledge what happened and that they are all simply Americans.

This is obviously an oversimplification and won’t go down well with many people. I also feel with Hong Kong that the British should never have had such a long lease, imposing an imperial structure that was outwardly democratic, but actually allowed most of the wealth to flow overseas. Expecting Hong Kong to remain as it was under the English overlords is unrealistic.